Lifeguards entertain children in one of the pools at the Southern Hills Park Community Center during the launch of Project Swim 2013 last week.

For the third year in a row, thanks to the efforts of Mayor Cedric Glover, the city of Shreveport is once again offering free swimming lessons to the public with the help of Rock Solid Sports in a continuing effort to save young lives. The annual program called Project Swim kicked off last Wednesday and will run weekly through July 26.

We applaud the city for not only continuing the program but increasing its capacity. This year a funding grant for $72,000 has allowed an enrollment of 1,500 children between the ages of 6 months and 18 years old. Since 2011 Shreveport Public Assembly and Recreation through its contractor Rock Solid has taught the free lessons to more than 2,100 children. According to the mayor's office, there were an additional 250 children who took paid lessons from Rock Solid and the city in 2011. In 2012, about 1,200 children received the free lessons.

"We have put together an effort that has resulted in over three years of over 2,000 individuals in Shreveport ... being provided the kind of lifesaving water skills that hopefully can put us in a position to see someone avoid the kind of tragedy we experienced in 2010," Glover said.

Project Swim was initiated in 2011 the wake the horrific tragedy of the summer of 2010 when six Shreveport teenagers drowned in Red River. They were trying to save a friend who had stepped into a river dropoff while wading on the river's sandbars around Charles and Marie Hamel Memorial Park. Brothers Litrelle Stewart, 18, LaTevin Stewart, 15, and LeDarius Stewart, 17, and their cousins, a second group of siblings, Takeitha Warner, 13, JaMarcus Warner, 14, and JaTavious Warner, 17, all died while attempting to rescue DeKendrix Warner who was rescued by a bystander. None of the young people knew how to swim.

While those families can never recover what they have lost, we hope they will take solace in the fact that from their tragedy, something good was born. Indeed, we can now celebrate the lives of LaTevin, Litrelle, LeDarius, Takeitha, JaMarcus and JaTavious in the fact that more than 2,000 people have been taught a valuable, life-saving skill. And the actual impact of that will most likely be much larger than we will ever be able to calculate because, according to Rock Solid CEO Shelley McMillian, swimming skills not only can help save participants themselves, but potentially others as well. Consider, for example Nicholas Williams, a Project Swim 2011 graduate who has returned this year to provide lifeguarding services.

"Funding for efforts like these is always challenging, but I am thankful to philanthropic-minded people who recognize the need to expose our children to water safety," Glover said. "This is a wonderful program, and it's one that I hope will carry on in the city of Shreveport for many years to come."

We echo the mayor's sentiments and appreciate the city's attention to teaching children this vital ability. The simple fact is water is not going anywhere. It's always around us in some form. And swimming should be a skill that every human should have access to regardless of income, social status or location. Project Swim is just one way of making that happen.

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Editorial: Project Swim helping to save young lives

The simple fact is water is not going anywhere. It's always around us in some form. And swimming should be a skill that every human should have access to regardless of income, social status or